A new 200-foot-tall tower is to be constructed at the county 9-1-1 Communications Center in Cherryville, replacing one built in 1976.

The Freeholders at their meeting Tuesday, March 5 were to vote on awarding a contract to the low bidder for the project at the center in Franklin Township. But the item was pulled from the agenda at the last minute.

John Davenport, county purchasing director, explained that he and his staff are still reviewing the five bids. Rather than rush the process and risk a possible problem, he decided to delay the award. It will probably be made at the Freeholders’ nest meeting, set for March 19.

According to George Wagner, county director of public safety, the cost of the tower and associated equipment is around $200,000. A federal Homeland Security grant is paying much of the cost.

The Hunterdon County Communications System went on the air in June 1976 and then on Feb. 1, 1977 Hunterdon started the first county-wide 9-1-1 system in New Jersey. And it was the first to handle all emergency calls through one central communications center.

The old tower was installed as part of the process of creating the system, which originally operated from an old house. In 1987 a building was constructed next to it to make room for a larger and busier center, and that project included a second tower, 280 feet tall and attached to the building.

That tower belongs to the state, which paid to erect it, Wagner noted. The State Police and various other state agencies use it for radio antennas. And the county also has equipment on it, under a shared-services agreement, he said.

The new tower is going up “because we’re running out of space on the state tower,” Wagner reported. The new tower will include a microwave link-up with the Warren County communications system, so the counties could dispatch for each other in the event either center fails, he said.

The new tower “also gives us some redundancies” in case the there’s problem with the state tower, he said. Each has its own electric generator in case of power failure.More Hunterdon County news: NJ.com/hunterdon • Facebook • Twitter